Episodes

Jessica Roberts is a Film Production teacher from Memphis Tennessee. She's also a troublemaker. We talk about that, plus how to organize a large, complex problem-based task like creating a film. Jessica shares her decade of experience working with students to help them tell their stories, and how she helps them stay organized and on-task.
Links:
Jessica on Twitter
AHSTigerLife.com
The Ed Podcast on Twitter
Sponsored Links:
Let's Do Coffee Podcast
ATB Financial
The Alberta Podcast...

George Evans teaches English and Social Studies in Japan. And while we begin our conversation focused on the peculiarities of his position, where we ultimately arrive is at the very heart of what it means to be a teacher. George strongly believes that the purpose of a teacher is to take part in world-changing events through helping our students become better people. An inspiring and informative conversation, this is one not to be missed.
Links:
George on Twitter
The Ed Podcast on...

There's a lot of great educators out there, but there's also a lot of burned out ones, too. This month, me, Shaun and Nadine gather round the mic to consider the costs of being truly excellent, and how to weigh our own desires to be great educators against the emotional and relational costs.
Links:
Shaun on Twitter
The Ed Podcast on Twitter
Sponsored Links:
Park Power
Back to School Again Podcast
ATB Financial
The Alberta Podcast Network

Our students' sense of self is extremely important and perhaps there are fewer who appreciate that more than former counsellor and now teacher Dani Bostick. A survivor of childhood sexual abuse, Dani brings her life experiences and passions to bear on the grievous injuries that our students may be bearing each day as they enter the classroom. She shares her insight on how to have difficult discussions as a class, alongside tips for teachers as they find themselves entrusted with the traumas...

For part II of our conversation (see part I here) me and Shauna Pollock get together to talk more directly about Blue Sky School, its founding principles as inspired by Walt Disney (the man, not the company) and we also go through some of the big questions about Blue Sky and its role in the educational world. It's a great deep dive into the mind of a truly revolutionary educator: Shauna is dead-set on doing what's best for students, even if that means creating an entirely new way educational...

Tigers have two settings: off, and high. Shauna Pollock is definitely a tiger. A teacher with a thousand tales to tell, this conversation represents the first of a two-part conversation all about her adventures as an educator. We discuss her origins as a teacher and why she felt alienated by the education system; her various exploits in education in varied settings; her philosophy of education and how that led to the formation of her latest endeavour, Blue Sky School. It's a big journey, but...

Rebecca Chambers likes to do one thing every day that scares her. While it's a quote that many people like to put on their walls, Rebecca truly lives it. We talk about her adventures as she moves beyond a straight curriculum delivery system and goes all-in on PBL and community engagement and how that helps to redefine her role and bring purpose to her classroom.
Links:
Rebecca on Twitter
UnLearnWithUs.com (Rebecca's blog)
Ken Robinson's TED talk: Schools Kill Creativity
The Ed Podcast...

It's a common refrain that "anyone can teach". Honestly, some part of this statement is true. This month, though, I'm joined by Shaun Smith and John Courville to unpack this idea and just what it truly means to be a teacher. We've also got a raft of wins and fails, plus our timeouts. Oh, and we also talk a lot about pirates and doubloons.
Links:
Shaun on Twitter
The Ed Podcast on Twitter
Timeout - Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Sponsored Links:
Back to School Again Podcast
ATB...

Dan Scratch is a Social Studies teacher in Edmonton, AB. More importantly, he's an educator who's passionate about social justice and equity for his students. We talk about the power of personal stories, bringing controversial topics into the classroom, and we focus in on the single biggest indicator for future student success.
Links:
Dan Scratch on Twitter
Dan Scratch on Medium
The RAD Educator Network
The Ed Podcast on Twitter
Sponsored Links:
Let's Do Coffee Podcast
ATB...

Caleb Endfield teaches STEM and is a counsellor on a reservation in Arizona. Having little experience with this area of the education world, it was a real honour to sit down and have this conversation with him. We talked about life on a reservation, the role that STEM plays in helping students prepare for the future, and the challenges students face as they decide whether to cross out of the reservation culture.
Links:
Caleb on Twitter
The Ed Podcast on Twitter
Paper Tigers on...

Caterina is a three-year veteran of teaching and a newly minted masters student. An ELA and Social Studies teacher, she is passionate about language and culture. We talk about how those impact her teaching and her success with establishing a cultural centre at her school. We also talk about her favourite hashtag, "survivingteaching" and what it means to be less than perfect, and why it's important to share our imperfect selves with others.
Links:
Caterina's Blog
Caterina on Twitter
The...

Tonya Gilchrist is a language & literature teacher, an instructional coach, a literacy consultant and a speaker. Our conversation hinges on what happened after Tonya became disatisfied with teaching in America and how that lead her to where she is today. We talk about her current role and the way she uses inquiry and creative thinking to help her students find success. We also dive into the way that inquiry changes roles for both students and teachers, plus how to confront fear for everyone...

Sometimes tweaks just won't do. Instead, we're faced with the option of either abandoning ship or completely rebuilding from scratch. On today's show, I'm joined by Shaun and Joe as we talk about those times where we just want to burn it all down and start over. It may be a unit, a lesson, a methodology, or an entire career; we talk about why we do it, when it's appropriate, and the pros and cons of taking such a drastic approach.
Links:
Joe on Twitter
Shaun on Twitter
The Ed Podcast on...

Every teacher knows that the life of a teacher can get pretty weird. We all have "those" stories. Well this special edition of Ed, called "Ed Stories" is all about that: the weird, the funny, the touching. This is a series that will run intermittently, as I gather stories from some of the best educators out there.
This first episode features stories from Brad Shreffler, Brian Aspinall, and Eric Kallenborn.
Links:

Jacinta Yanders is a podcaster and PhD candidate with a focus on TV, film and pop culture. This week, we got to talk about why it's so important for our students (and ourselves) to understand these things. Of course, we also branched out to touch on how to better integrate high school and post-secondary institutions, the troubles facing public education, plus a few film and TV recommendations along the way.
Links:
Jacinta's Blog - Teach to Learn. Learn to Teach
Jacinta on Twitter
The Ed...

Podcaster and educator Ramona Meharg joins me this week to talk about her experiences in the Special Ed classroom - we cover the ins and outs of what it's like to be in a room with every student having special needs, the challenges and the rewards, and the incredible potential that ice cream has in all areas of education.
Links:
Ramona on Twitter
The Ed Podcast on Twitter
Sponsored Links:
The Well Endowed Podcast
ATB Financial
The Alberta Podcast Network

In the world of education, Levent Erdogan is a rare bird, despite his very common (Turkish) name. Located in Hong Kong, Levent is a teacher of physical education, music, and film. It is this last subject which occupies the lion's share of our conversation, as we dig deep into the challenges - for both teachers and students - to take on a major PBL task. Whether you teach film or not - likely not - our conversation is a revealing and helpful look at how to approach the complexity of...

For this special Check-in, I'm joined by fellow podcasters Ramona Meharg of I Wish I Knew EDU and Leanne Hanson of EDUNauts to unpack the question of what school is: we often define our students role as that of employees in a workplace, but is that really an adequate metaphor to describe the school experience? We dive deep into this whilst also rabbit-trailing all over the place - from bears and flushing toilets, to William Shatner and album recommendations.
Links:
The First 15 Lives of...

For the first time ever, this episode marks the return of a previous "Conversations" guest, Eric Kallenborn. For the past year, Eric has reviewed a new graphic novel every day. We discuss that journey, the deeper magic of comics, plus tips for aspiring blogwriters and how best to understand the graphic novel medium.
Links:
Eric's Website
Eric's Top Ten Graphic Novels
Eric on Twitter
The Ed Podcast on Twitter
Sponsored Links:
The Well Endowed Podcast
ATB Financial
The Alberta...